In an opinion piece for the newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Igor Yurgens reflects on the failures of previous attempts to liberalize the political system of Russia and writes about the challenges facing today’s pro-democracy forces.

Democrats should make makes sacrifices

Don’t sit in blogs but rather make a concerted effort to build a new party

The future requires more than simple solutions. The authorities, both today’s and tomorrow’s, lack an integrated strategy

The title of INSOR’s report Attaining the Future published last April as it now turns out precisely reflected the main demand of Russian society as expressed in the recent elections: it not only wants to know its future, it also wants to influence how and where the authorities are directing it. The problem here lies in the fact that the authorities neither wanted to nor were able to sense and hear this.

The leaders of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India China and South America) met during the G20 summit and agreed to develop a consolidated position with regard to the economic situation in the European Union and a plan for overcoming the debt crisis.

Georgy Panin of Rossiyskaya Gazeta spoke with Nikita Maslennikov, an advisor of the Institute of Contemporary Development, about the steps that the BRICS could take to help the eurozone.

Igor Yurgens, chairman of the Management Board of the Institute of Contemporary Development (INSOR), talked with Kommersant’s commentator Viktor Khamrayev about why progressive forces lost to the conservatives. The interview was published in the newspaper on October 18.

— So then, the game has itself played out. The outcome of the elections, both the Duma and presidential, is quite obvious. The results are predetermined. We just have to wait until voting day so that Russians can add the finishing touches.

“In planning the strategy for long-term social-economic development, indispensible parameters include the gradual state-managed and state-directed liberalization of public and political life, and development of political pluralism and civilized forms of participation for citizens and business in the political life of the country” – with these words concluded INSOR’s report from three years ago titled Democracy: Development of Russia’s Model.

In an editorial in Vedomosti on July 27, INSOR’s Yevgeny Gontmakher and Igor Yurgens warn that Dmitry Medvedev’s refusal to continue his presidency would cause a massive crisis in Russia.

In cooperation with the Moscow Institute of Contemporary Development (INSOR) and the EU-Russia Industrialists’ Round Table (IRT), Dialog-Europe-Russia (DER) organised a seminar to discuss important issues related to the EU-Russia Partnership for Modernisation. The meeting was held in Moscow on 31 May 2011 at the premises of INSOR, and was dedicated to:

• The reform of vocational training in Russia
• The reform of the pensions system in Russia and Central East European countries
• The way towards the forthcoming admission of Russia to the OECD

In addition, the discussion on two topics addressed at a preceding DER seminar (Brussels, 24 February 2011) was resumed at the beginning of the Moscow seminar.

If we were to sum up in one all-encompassing phrase the current situation in the Russian economy in general, and with investment in particular, it would be this: the time has come for the strategic selection of a long-term development model. In INSOR’s recent report proposing a strategic agenda for 2012, we conclude that the global economic crisis has rendered the economic algorithm of the 2000s unviable. It is not possible to re-enter the normalcy of the old economic order and achieve a GDP growth rate average of 6.9% and annual increases in real income for the population of 20-30%.

On May 11, the Russian newspaper Gazeta published the following commentary by Boris Makarenko, Chairman of the Center for Political Technologies and Director for Social and Political Development at the Institute of Contemporary Development.

“In planning the strategy for long-term social-economic development, indispensible parameters include the gradual state-managed and state-directed liberalization of public and political life, and development of political pluralism and civilized forms of participation for citizens and business in the political life of the country” – with these words concluded INSOR’s report from three years ago titled Democracy: Development of Russia’s Model.